by Jo Salter
Founder, Where Does It Come From?

Plastic and its overabundance is a hot topic at the moment.  From single use plastics like straws and coffee cups to plastic particles in the air we breathe, our seas and our food chain, it seems that the world has woken up to just how much plastic has infiltrated our lifestyles.  There’s even plastic in our clothes!  In fact plastic has only been around 80 or so years and in that time we have created 91 billion tonnes of it – and we’ve recycled less than 10%.

So When did Our Clothes go Plastic?

Plastic started becoming a core part of the fabrics in our clothes from the 1950s when polyester was introduced into men’s suits by chemical company DuPont.  It seems quite funny now to see photos of 1960s and 70s chic with loud patterns on shiny, itchy fabrics, but I’m thinking it can’t have been the most comfortable of wears. However since when did comfort form the basis of fashion…..

The use of polyester and nylon grew, with improvements to its blendability with natural fibres, until it overtook cotton in 2007 as the world’s dominant fibre.  The most commonly used plastic, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), is made from crude oil.  This is the plastic used in our plastic bottles and which, when pulled into a long thread, can also be woven or knitted in to fabrics or blended with other threads such as cotton to make mixed (polycotton) fabrics.  In fact it’s pretty hard to avoid plastic in our clothes now when shopping – just check your labels.

 Plastic Fantastic – The Benefits of Plastic in Our Clothes

Let’s be honest,  ironing shirts with a bit of polyester in is much easier.  We also like the stretchiness of our jeans (our Mums used to sit in the bath to shrink theirs to size) and, with the more modern plastic fabrics such as fleece and performance wear, we like the lightness and comfort.  The price can be pretty attractive too – compare an acrylic to a wool jumper or a polyester versus a silk scarf.

There are bigger arguments in its favour too.  Whereas natural fibres such as cotton or wool do have a finite production capacity – there is only so much land available – plastic production knows no such limits.  Dependent on the availability of oil, plastics can be produced cheaply without constraint.

 So what’s the Plasticky Catastrophe?

Well there are a number of areas for concern:

Plastic microfibres from our clothes: When we do our washing the plastic in our clothes can shed tiny microfibers which then enter into our water system and from there into the air, the seas and into our food chain.  This great video from ‘Our Planet’ sums it up beautifully!  There are ways to cut down or eliminate these tiny bits of plastic though, for example putting your laundry in a bag during the wash.  Take a look at this one from GuppyFriend.

Recycling and Biodegrading: Unfortunately plastic doesn’t biodegrade – it won’t rot away by itself – so unless it is recycled (into more plastic) then it will be with us forever.  As I mentioned above we have only ever recycled 10% of the plastic we have created – the rest is still around either in use, in landfill or disposed of in some other location (the sea, rivers etc.).

Recycling is a good option for pure plastics but it is quite tricky to recycle mixed fabrics (such as polycotton) or mixed fabric garments such as items with different fabrics (eg. Cotton sleeves and polyester body).  There is work underway by companies such as Worn Again to enable the splitting out of mixed fabrics but this is still expensive and not so successful for low quality fabrics.  Cotton and other natural fabrics will biodegrade eventually in landfill.

It’s not just the fabrics we need to consider either – add ons such as buttons, thread and labels need to be disposed of too.  Alternatives such as wood or shell are a much more biodegradable alternative.

So it’s simple then?  Ditch the plastic?

Unfortunately it’s not that quite as simple as ‘natural fabrics good, plastics bad’.  Oh no, I hear you say, I thought you’d be able to give me the answer.  Wait for it…..

Kala rainfed cotton – photo Khadi London

Carbon and Water Footprint: Well firstly if you look at conventional cotton versus polyester production in terms of footprint then there’s not a huge difference – in fact cotton comes off worse when it comes to how much water it takes to keep it fed.  Take a look a this excellent report by WRAP for more information.  However, rain fed cotton crops like those generally grown in Africa or Kala Cotton in India are a much better solution in terms of water usage.  The growth of organic cotton also has huge benefits for the sustainability of cotton as a clothing fibre.

More sustainable methods of turning the raw materials into fabric can also cut down the water and carbon production.  Khadi is a traditional Indian handwoven fabric which uses low water in its production and virtually no carbon at all.  At Where Does It Come From? we use khadi for our Indian produced clothing and projects for business customers, such as scarves, T shirts and bags.  We also use African organic cotton for our African print range of tunics and accessories.   Find out more about our Sustainable Business Policies.

Hand Weaving Khadi Cotton for Where Does It Come From?

Fabric Composting and Recycling: In simple terms cotton will biodegrade and plastic will not.  (It obviously isn’t quite as simple as that – cotton does need certain elements to biodegrade efficiently – light, air, time – but the principle is there.)  However non-organic cotton will break down into all its component parts on biodegrading, and that includes the pesticides and chemicals used in its growth.  These will seep into the ground affecting wildlife and soil in that area.

Recycling of both cotton and polyester is becoming more common, with many brands using recycled polyester in their clothes (I have some really cool jeans from Howies with the stretch provided by recycled bottles….).  Initially recycled fibres were mixed with new to ensure the quality was acceptable but this has improved –  the first ever 100% recycled cotton dress being created in 2014.  There is some fascinating work going on to improve recycling – such as that by Worn Again, Blend and Econyl.

So What Can We Do?

Reduce your Clothes Shopping

The key message here is that we all need to buy less.  By far the most damaging aspect of our clothing production can only be solved by us actually reducing the amount of clothes that we buy.  It’s a hard truth to face but in the UK the average household owns £4,000 worth of clothes of which they wear about three quarters.  Then every year we chuck about 350,000 tonnes of it (worth around £140,000 – figures from WRAP) into landfill ie. that doesn’t even include the stuff we recycle or ship out to markets in developing countries.

Keep your Clothes Longer

We need to keep our clothes longer and wear them more.  We need to extend their lives by passing on to friends, upcycling or selling them on.  If we can keep our clothes out of landfill for an extra 3 months per garment, it would save 5-10% of their carbon footprint (WRAP).

Shop Thoughtfully

100% khadi organic cotton shirts and scarves from Where Does It Come From?

When buying clothes it’s important to think about what your clothes are made of, as well as how much use you will get from them.  If buying new, shop from brands using organic fibres and if you want some plastic choose brands that use recycled.  As plastic users cut back on your single use plastics and recycle plastics that you do use – that will cut down on the amount of new plastic being generated

As fabric producers and brands we can continue to increase the organic production of fibre crops such as cotton, and the rain fed varieties.  For brands that use plastic (we don’t) there needs to be an increase in recycled plastic used in fabrics, and some understanding how that fabric is going to be recycled at the end of the garment’s life.

Visit our website to find out more about Where Does It Come From?’s work to create retail and wholesale clothing and accessories that are kind to the planet.  

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Information Sources:

http://www.textileexcellence.com/news/details/1332/overcapacity-will-continue-in-the-global-polyester…

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/humanity-has-produced-91-billion-tonnes-of-plastic-and-weve-recycled-just-10-of-it_uk_59708aebe4b0110cb3cc4956

http://www.wrap.org.uk/sites/files/wrap/VoC%20FINAL%20online%202012%2007%2011.pdf

https://helpwiththewashing.co.uk/blog/laundry-pollutes-environment/

https://qz.com/414223/if-your-clothes-arent-already-made-out-of-plastic-they-will-be/

https://www.plasticsoupfoundation.org/en/2018/03/how-damaging-is-breathing-in-microplastics/

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by Jo Salter

Founder Where Does It Come From?

When I talk to people about shopping and living ethically (and I do this a lot), a common response is that being ethical is just too complicated, too difficult and too expensive for them to take it on.  This saddens me because being ethical is easy – it just requires asking ourselves a few questions and then life is actually easier than ever before!

What’s so complicated?

Part of the reason that we find ethics complicated is that there are so many different strands. Basically being ethical means ‘doing the right thing’, which means different things to different people.  It covers such diverse topics as human rights and fair trade, sustainability and environmentalism, animal rights, local community and many more.   The common element is that we are all, in our own way, making choices that have positive effects on a wider level.

The best way to cut the complication out of being ethical is simply to ask yourself what being ethical means to you.  There is no right answer – it’s personal.  It will also probably change as time goes on, and that’s fine too.

Shopping Ethically Is So Much Easier!

Years ago I went on a business course where we had our ‘colours done’ – some of you may remember the trend for holding colour swatches up to your face and then being told which colour palette suited you best.  For me this made shopping for clothes really easy as I could ignore well over half of the clothes in the shop from that point forward.  I knew they wouldn’t suit me so there was no point in even looking.

Part of our challenge is too much choice.  We have so many options and so much information available when we want to buy something that it makes our brain explode so that we don’t buy anything, or we just grab something quickly and run away!  My husband wants a new car (bits are now falling off his current one…) so we started discussing electric versus hybrid, diesel vs unleaded and the conversation is still going on.  We haven’t even got to colour, size and brand yet! ….. Don’t get me wrong, choice is fantastic, but it really helps if you can narrow down the decision at the start by applying your own ethical filter.

Once you have your key ethical goals ready you can select brands or shops that support them – Ethical Consumer magazine gives product reviews across all sorts of areas and even allows you to rank products based on your own ethical criteria.  There are also ethical market places such as Mamoq for fashion and ethical.market for gifts that use symbols to show how different brands are focussed, for example fair trade, organic, vegan etc.

Being Ethical SAVES you money!

People think that being ethical is more expensive – not at all.  In fact being ethical means that you actually buy less, but choose wisely.  Many of the challenges we are currently facing in our world are to do with over consumption, mass production and waste.  Buying and using less is a key way to save money and help the people, planet and animals too.   Simple ways to make the change are to ask yourself if you really need a particular item you are heading off to buy, or whether it needs to be new.  Bringing a bottle of water with you automatically saves you money if you are thirsty – plus it saves the empty bottle you would have bought from going in the bin.  If you bring your own tea or coffee cup these days most places give you a discount!

When it comes to buying clothes then buying good quality garments in a style you love can be seen as an investment – you will wear them and wear them and they will last.  Investing in a basic capsule wardrobe and then accessorising with scarves and jewellery will mean that you actually buy much less.  At Where Does It Come From? we focus on creating high quality basics, such as shirts and scarves, that you will love wearing and are so versatile that you can wear as much as you like.

As the ethical market grows then many new ideas pop up that help us live and shop ethically.  Sam Attard set up Ethical Revolution to offer a discount site for ethical shoppers.  He says that affordability is often seen as a problem for those wanting to switch to a more ethical lifestyle.    ‘That’s certainly what I found most difficult when switching to purchasing ethical alternatives to mainstream products. It was the most common hurdle for people I spoke with who were wanting to ‘do the right thing’ with their consumer habits too. I could search for offers and find some if I looked hard enough, but it would be a slog. So I decided to make a hub where anyone could find ethical discounts – a ‘Money Saving Expert’ for ethical consumers.  Via Ethical Revolution the difficulty of the affordability of going ethical is being addressed, so now ethical is easy!”

There really is a culture change underway around changing our habits.  The shift away from shopping as a leisure activity and over consumption generally is starting to happen, with organisations being set up to help us declutter (check out Less-Stuff) and have a fantastic life with a minimum financial hit (visit The Frugal Family).

Don’t eat the whole elephant in one go….

Perhaps it seems overwhelming – changing the way you shop and adding new criteria to your shopping decisions?  Just like eating an elephant (apologies to the non-meat eaters for the analogy) just take one step at a time.  Look at what has already happened with plastic bags! As soon as we were incentivised to bring our own plastic bags  then it became quite normal and has resulted in a drop of 9 billion bags in use in the UK since the 5p levy was introduced.

Small steps could be getting your milk delivered in glass bottles rather than buying plastic at the supermarket, buying fruit and vegetables at a green grocer that uses paper bags rather than plastic wrapped, carrying your own cup, straw or plastic bag.

Can we afford NOT to be ethical?

This is the big question.  The challenges we perceive in living more ethically – cost, complication and difficulty – can lead to people ignoring the issues.  If we do turn a blind eye to injustice and environment damaging/short term profit creating practices, then we lose our empathy and isolate ourselves from the wider and more long-term issues.

Each of us has the power to change the world through our actions, however small.  What we say, do and how we spend our money all has a ripple effect on the people around us and ultimately on politicians, brands and corporations.  It’s no good complaining if you are not going to be part of the change… and it’s so EASY to get started!

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By
Jo Salter, Founder of Where Does It Come From?
and
Katie Carr, Founder of Tommy and Lottie

Meghan Markle Shows Us Her Ethics!

It was fabulous this week to see the Daily Mail featuring our princess-to-be Meghan Markle and focussing on her ethical clothing choices.  Meghan’s conscious shopping choices included jeans from the Welsh ethical brand Huit Denim for jeans (very appropriate as she was visiting Wales!), Stella McCartney for her coat and she accessorised with earrings and bag all from ethical and socially conscious brands.

Not only is it fabulous that Ms Markle is such a role model for shopping according to her personal values, but it is really heartening that such coverage is appearing in the Daily Mail.  The Mail, which is not generally noted for its liberal stance, has focussed on the different elements of the outfit, with the headline ‘Never has one outfit been designed to send so many messages!’.  Certainly by choosing to showcase ethical brands and designers there is a clear message of authenticity and choosing to live her personal values.

Celebrities and Ethical Fashion

Meghan Markle is not the first celebrity to embrace ethical fashion, Joanna Lumley showcased a Where Does It Come From?  elephant print scarf in her travel documentary in India last year and the film star Emma Watson wore a dress created from recycled bottles to an awards ceremony.  For those of us involved in ethical fashion such a role model will provide a massive boost and will help move conscious shopping more into the mainstream.

More and More of Us Are Shopping Ethically

The ethical market in the UK is growing rapidly each year.  According to Ethical Consumer Magazine the ethical market in the UK grew by 3.2% in 2017 – pretty amazing when you consider that the rate of inflation was 0.64%.  More and more of us are choosing to shop our values – whether it be Fairtrade, organic, local or vegan.  There are now a huge number of ethical brands now available to choose from too, so it is becoming increasingly easy to shop with peace of mind.  These businesses are not created purely to make money but have ethics in their DNA.

The Growth of Ethical Brands

Ethical Brands are not new – some, such as The Body Shop, Peopletree, TOMS and Lush have been around for a while, grown and prospered, and are now household names.  However as a backlash against mass consumerism and fast fashion we are now seeing a huge increase in these kinds of brands –where ethics is in their DNA and is as important as the end product itself.    These brands have been created from the start with the vision and passion to make a difference. They haven’t just jumped on the ‘eco friendly’ bandwagon when they see it starting to get coverage globally and that consumer behaviour starting to change.  Ethics and sustainability are as important as the end product or service.  Newer businesses that are gaining popularity include The Soap Co, Po Zu and our own brands Where Does It Come From? and Tommy and Lottie.

Tommy and Lottie – Sustainable Clothes that Teach Children to Love the Environment

Tommy & Lottie is a unisex, ethical and sustainable baby clothing brand based in St Albans, Hertfordshire. Its founder, Katie Carr, grew up in rural Sussex loving nature and the environment and created her brand to pass on that passion.  Woodland animal designs capture how important it is to inspire our children about wildlife and their environment.  The baby clothes range is unisex and capsule so items can be passed along to another baby, boy or girl, producing less textile waste. Tommy and Lottie only use oeko tex certified cotton where no harmful dyes or chemicals are used so is safe for babies and young children. The clothing is produced with a low carbon footprint and according to fair trade standards.  You can find out more in these animations which were created by local students http://www.tommyandlottie.com/animation.

Where Does It Come From? – Ethical Clothes that Come With Their Story

Where Does It Come From? is a clothing brand offering high quality basics for adults and children. Based in Suffolk, their beautiful clothes are created in partnership with social enterprises and artisans – always according to fair trade standards and using sustainable production methods.  The core ethos of Where Does It Come From? is traceability and connection – founder Jo Salter says ‘We share with our customers their garment’s creation story so they can explore where the cotton grew, how their clothes were made and the people involved.  We hope this will inspire them to love their clothes more and to shop more consciously in future’. You can find out more about the scarves, shirts and children’s clothes on offer at wheredoesitcomefrom.co.uk.

Are You Ready to Shop Your Values?

Seeing authentic role models in the media really helps move ethical shopping into the mainstream.  It is becoming easier and easier to shop ethically, with new brands emerging and more shops, both online and physical, stocking more fairtrade and sustainable products.  Shopping your values makes a real difference – not only enabling you to express your authenticity and support the causes that you care about, but also in enabling brands that support your values to thrive and grow.  Ultimately shopping your values can help save the world and who doesn’t want to be a part of that?

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Traditionally the ‘Three Rs’ were about education.  This is slightly strange given that two of them don’t even start with R – a Victorian attempt at irony I guess.  In current thinking the three Rs are the mantra of sustainability and frugality – Reduce, Re-use, Recycle. Our children learn about them at school, our council encourages us to live by them and there are countless other wonderful initiatives with these maxims at their heart.

Drowning in Plastic (and Clothes….)

Plastic is a topic that’s filling our headlines at the moment – the overuse of plastic as wrapping, as an additive in every day items such as teabags and cosmetics and the main component of single use items such as straws and plastic cups.  For several years we’ve felt justified in our plastic over use by the fact that much of it can be recycled.  However now China have drawn the line at accepting our plastic waste we will need to find a new solution.

There are a lot of similarities between plastic and clothing when it comes to over abundance.  Just as is the case with plastic, we have gained a false sense of security around recycling, happily buying new clothes and complacently sending off our unwanted items to the recycling bin or charity shop. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying it’s bad to recycle or donate clothes, just that we need to put a bit more emphasis on the ‘Reduce’ part of the 3 Rs.

Reduce, Re-use, Recycle – Are We Doing Too Much Recycling and Re-using?

Clothes recycling is a bit different to plastic as it is far more likely that other people will want to re-use your discarded clothing.  Charity Shops are a wonderful resource and online charity shops such as Oxfam offer a curated service to help you search amongst the wide range of donations.  However charity shops do receive far more than they are able to sell in their shops and the majority are traded abroad.   The UK is the second largest used clothes exporter after the US and much of our rejected clothing ends up in markets in Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe.  There are of course arguments for both sides here, it’s much better that the clothes are being re-used and creating employment, but an influx of used garments massively effects local clothing industries and can lead to unemployment and the loss of traditional textile skills.

Clothes that are not re-used are very likely to end up in landfill as most of our mixed fibre clothes are very difficult (if not impossible) to recycle as it is too costly to separate the cotton from the polyester.  Fast fashion, cheaply made clothes are virtually impossible to recycle as the fibre quality is so low. According to WRAP 350,000 tonnes of clothing ends up in landfill each year in the UK.

Here’s a simple breakdown of what happens to our used clothing according to WRAP.

So What Needs To Change?

Well, just as with plastic we now need to drastically reduce the amount of clothing that is being produced.  It’s unlikely that you would be reading this article if you didn’t already have some interest in sustainability, so I don’t need to go on and on about the negative effects of fast fashion on the environment, the workers and the mental health of consumers.  However I will just mention that the average UK household owns around £4,000 worth of clothes and around 30% are never worn.  Add that to the figures above and I need say no more.

We’ve become used to cheap clothes.  Clothing prices have not increased in real terms since the 1980s.  The reason they are cheap is because they’ve been made with little thought for the fabric and garment quality, the people who made them and the longer term effects on our environment.

It’s Time To Change Our Shopping Habits

We need to buy less and we need to ensure that what we buy is good quality and ethically sourced so that it has minimal impact. We need to focus on only buying quality clothes that we love, so we’ll wear them repeatedly for years to come.  Natural fibres (non-plastic) are better too as they are more likely to be recyclable and will eventually biodegrade.

Ethical Fashion is now a growing part of the clothing industry.  Where Does It Come From? is one of an increasing number of brands offering quality clothing with ethics so you can buy clothes that have minimal negative impact and that are designed to be gorgeous and versatile.

Reduce, Re-use, Recycle, the 3 s of sustainability, are a fantastic mantra to keep us focussed on sustainability. We’ve stepped up, with many of us embracing recyclying of household waste as part of our lives. Now, with our plastic mountains and our landfill full of polyester, its time to take it to the next level and focus on the Reduce part too.

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London Fashion Week…..

London Fashion Week 2017 has just finished – a frantic festival of catwalk shows and new designs.  But it’s not just about style and glamour, fashion is big business – the UK fashion industry contributed £28billion to the economy last year and supported 880,000 UK jobs (Oxford Economics). It’s popular too – Many people love discovering the new designs and watching the beautiful people strutting their stuff in them.

The Darker Side of Fashion

But amidst the glitz and glamour there is a darker side. For many dedicated followers the seasons call the tune and they ‘flit from shop to shop just like a butterfly’ wearing polkadots one week and stripes the next.  The growth of cheap ‘fast fashion’ over the last 30 years has led to us buying about 2 million tonnes of clothes each year in the UK – and discarding around half of that amount.  The low prices we pay for our clothing lead directly to low wages and harsh working conditions for makers as well as negative impacts on the environment and our planet’s future.

Change from Within

It’s easy to stand on the outside and criticise so it’s reassuring to know that change is happening from within.  In 2006 The Estethical project was set up by ethical designers Anna Orsini, Orsola de Castro and Filippo Ricci to encourage sustainability in design.  This has now widened into the British Fashion Council’s initiative ‘Positive Fashion’.  This year big names like Dame Vivienne Westwood have been promoting the switch to green energy, the move to more local and ethical manufacturers and the push towards more inclusiveness in the modelling industry.

What Can Ethical Brands do better?

Like it or not, the Fashion Industry works.  For those of us creating ethical clothing on the outside, we need to look and learn.  How can we attract existing followers of fashion to a more sustainable way of shopping? Well there are a number of approaches – a key one is to encourage them to buy high quality ‘capsule’ items that can form the basis of their wardrobe, such as a white shirt or black trousers, rather than a new outfit for every occasion. Another is to make ethical fashion much more exciting – pairing fantastic design with inspiring stories – the makers, the fabrics and even some of the innovative recycling that goes on ‘Wow my jeans are made from beer bottles!’.

Ethical brands also need to consider using the language and imagery used widely with in the fashion industry – we need to find a way to articulate the value of what we are selling and make customers desperate to buy it!

How Can Fashion Lovers Be More Ethical?

If you love your clothes and are excited by new trends and designs then take a look at some of the ethical brands around.  There are some beautiful and innovative designers using fantastic fabrics and telling wonderful stories.  Take a look in sustainable fashion directories such as those run by All Ethical, Roberta Lee Style and Ethical Consumer.  You can buy direct from curated online shops such as Ethical.Market, Fashion Conscience and Ethical Shop.

The capsule wardrobe idea is a style winner too.  Buying basic all-year-round items and then using accessories such as scarves to add individuality is a good way to achieve style without high cost to you or your peace of mind (or the planet). Where Does It Come From? has a great capsule wardrobe range at wheredoesitcomefrom.co.uk.

And if you really must have your fix of regular new outfits why not consider buying pre-loved?  There are many shops reselling high-end designer clothes or take a look at Oxfam online – you can even buy clothes previously worn by celebrities.  Now that’s really being a dedicated follower of (sustainable) fashion!

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Jeans with a High Waste

by Jo Salter and Rachel Forcella (Forcella Content Marketing)

Who doesn’t own a pair of jeans?

Invented in 1873 by Jacob Davis and Levi Strauss (sound familiar?), jeans have gone from being the workwear of farm labourers and miners during the American gold rush to a staple of virtually everyone’s wardrobe. In the UK alone we spend a whopping £1.6 billion every year on jeans (source: Kantar Worldpanel).

The things that make jeans “jeans” are their unique engineering and the tough denim fabric used to make them. Designed for the demanding needs of the likes of pioneer cowboys, the pants had to withstand a lot of wear and rough & tumble.

Since jeans became a fashion item in the 1950s, nearly every style “tribe” had customised the garment to make it their own – surfers used the sun to bleach their jeans; 1980s punks wore skin-tight chemical bleached jeans; we all wore stone washed jeans in the 1990s (remember the little bits of gravel in your pockets?); and more recently fashion has embraced the “distressed” jean look – slashed and grazed.

I’ve also heard that you can pay £330 for a pair of jeans with mud splattered over them for a “festival look”, but the less said about that, the better…

I love jeans, but I also love the environment

I have some serious concerns about the way mainstream retailers are approaching the design and sale of jeans.

An item which was originally created to be strong, study and long lasting is having its life being deliberately shortened in the name of style.

Jeans – and other denim items such as shirts and jackets – are distressed using a variety of techniques including the use of corrosive chemicals, sandpapering, slashing with knives and, alarmingly, a machine that looks like an angle grinder…

There are literally thousands of blogs and videos online showing people how they can DIY the look using razor blades, tweezers, cheese graters and nail files.

There are tutorials demonstrating how to “destroy” denim.

I understand that there are trends, but why anyone would want to destroy and intentionally reduce the lifespan of an item of clothing is beyond me.

The making of any piece of clothing has an immediate environmental impact- a typical pair of blue jeans consumes 919 gallons of water during its life cycle (this includes the water to irrigate the cotton crop, manufacture the jeans, and the numerous washes by the consumer) (source: Levi Strauss & Co.).

Then there is the human impact….

Many people in clothing factories are still sadly subjected to low wages and poor working conditions. But worse still are the health implications that occur from manufacturing processes such as sandblasting denim.

Workers in sandblasting factories can develop the lung disease Silicosis, which is caused when small particles of silica dust from the sand embed themselves within the lungs. It causes shortness of breath, coughing, weakness, weight loss, and is incurable.

So, rather than using precious resources to make a garments which are then deliberately damaged and weakened, thereby shortening their lifespan, surely we should be looking to design clothing from which we can get the most possible wear? With the lowest environmental cost?

In a world of fast fashion, where fads dictate that what was “in” yesterday is resolutely “out” today we need an antidote. A real solution to the waste that the mainstream fashion industry is not only causing, but actively promoting.

Well, luckily, things are changing

Innovators and visionaries are coming up with new, better ways of making and selling jeans.

I’m currently wearing-in a pair of jeans from Howies which have been made from recycled beer bottles, however my absolute favourites are my “Monkee Genes” . Jeans made from organic cotton by people who work in good conditions and who are paid a fair wage. I’ve had them for longer than I can remember and they have distressed themselves naturally over the years – looking better the older they get.

Huit Denim Co.  in Wales has a very unique method of making sure that their jeans fit perfectly – they pay volunteers to pre-wear the jeans, which involves following a strict rule of no washing for 6 months, saving gallons of water.

Nudie Jeans Co. offer a free repair service for their organic cotton jeans as well as reselling second hand denim and recycling worn out items.

At Where Does It Come From? our jeans for kids are made from handwoven denim that has been created using virtually no carbon.  The dyeing process is low water and the dyes are non-toxic.  You can find out the creation story of your jeans too which helps inspire the next generation.

The future is these kind of companies.

Companies who are using organic cotton, transparent production processes and championing social responsibility. Brands which are recycling, reusing and upcycling.  Business models which dramatically reduce the environmental impact of our favourite piece of clothing.

Strauss and Davis would be proud.

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Jo was invited onto BBC Radio Suffolk to talk about Fashion Revolution on 30 April 2017.  You can listen to the interview with Jon Wright by clicking below.

SUNDAY ETHICAL CLOTHES ROT 300417 JW

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10 Reasons Why Shopping  Ethically for Clothes Is Easier Than Ever Before!

Great news – the ethical market in the UK is growing!  This is a big relief for those of us who shop ethically as it is now simpler for us to buy our sackcloth dresses and rag rugs (yes, I am joking).  According to the Ethical Consumer market report for 2016 the purchase of ethical goods in the UK during the previous year came in at £38bn – a growth of 8.5%.  This is fantastic given the current retail market.  So now is a really good time to shop ethically and say ‘The Only Way is Ethics!’

A Bit of Background….

Clothes shopping has changed dramatically in the last 30 years or so.  Fast Fashion is the term used to describe the clothing industry of the most recent decades.  Whereas the price of most of our items – houses, fuel, food – has increased in this time period, our clothing has become cheaper and cheaper.  It is actually cheaper to buy clothes now than in the 1980s!

Most major clothing brands launch a number of collections per year and have moved production to developing countries.   There the work is done by people who tend to work for low wages, long hours and in dangerous working conditions.  Convoluted supply chains have hidden these concerning facts from customers and often from the brands themselves, with price and profit being the main considerations.  There are lots more clothes about too.  According to ‘The Economist’, global clothing production doubled from 2000 to 2014, so it seems that there is an increasing demand for these cheap clothes, despite how they were made, how many exist already and the rapidly filling landfill sites.

It’s Time for a Fashion Revolution!

Come join the Revolution – a Fashion Revolution!  Four years ago on April 24^th 2013, over 1200 garment workers died when their factory collapsed on them.  They were trapped inside making cheap garments for well-known fashion brands.  This tragedy acted as a wake-up call to many people involved in the clothing industry and Fashion Revolution was born.  To join in simply ask your clothing brands ‘Who Made My Clothes?’ – you can even tweet a photo of yourself showing your brand labels.  If brands aren’t telling you who made your clothes then it’s not likely to be a positive story!

Are You an Ethical Consumer?

If you care about the principles as well as the price of your shopping then you are.  A person’s ethics are very individual but generally an ethical consumer is someone who makes product selections based on criteria in addition to price and function of what they are buying.  This might be to do with product ingredients (vegan, cruelty free, organic), it might be environmental (low carbon production, biodegradable) or human rights related (fairtrade), or even a mix of several of these areas.  Cruel (but very amusing) caricatures show us as long haired hippies in rainbow jumpers but this is not (always) the case – one of the most famous ethical shoppers these days is the lovely Emma Watson (star of Harry Potter and Beauty and Beast). She wore a dress to an awards ceremony that was made out of recycled bottles!  No sackcloth in sight.  Awesome!

So Why Is it such a GREAT Time to be an Ethical Consumer?

Here are 10 good reasons (in no particular order) why now is better than ever before to shop ethically:

1. Big brands are going Ethical

Many well-known clothing brands have recognised the increase in demand from ethical consumers and are responding with product offerings.  Although some of their more standard offerings may be less transparent ethically, it is fantastic that we are now starting to see ethical products in high street shops from the likes of H&M, Marks and Spencer with their ‘Plan A’ , and John Lewis to name but a few.

2. Large Range of Ethical Brands to Choose From

There are a HUGE number of ethical brands springing up in the UK and elsewhere.  These offer online products and services and many have their own outlet or sell through other retail outlets.  The best way to find out about them is through internet searches, social media or online directories such as Greenfinder.  These brands often have a unique ethical story – at Where Does It Come From? we create ethical clothes that come with a code so that the customer can trace their garment’s creation, right back to the cotton farm.

3. Online Ethical marketplaces

As there are now so many ethical brands catering for pretty much every ethical stance, there has also been a growth in online ethical market places.  These are websites and catalogues that sell products from a wide variety of brands and often have criteria that will enable you to select products that fit with your ethical stance.  Notable online examples are Ethical Shop, Ethical Superstore, ethical.market and Fairmondo. 

4. Fashion Revolution

Massive campaigns like Fashion Revolution raise awareness of the issue of ethical clothing and lack of transparency. This really does inspire consumers to ask more questions.  Watch this fantastic, award winning video which was very successful in changing peoples mindsets.

The True Cost Movie has also been instrumental in raising awareness of the effects that the clothing industry has on the workers, the environment and even on us as consumers.

5. There’s More Focus on Ethical and Sustainable Design

Well known designers are embracing ethical design. The Stella McCartney brand is all about creating ethical clothing for the high fashionistas and the ethical brand Peopletree have produced beautiful clothes designed by big design names like Vivienne Westwood and Orla Kiely.  The Ethical Fashion Forum is enabling new fashion designers to embrace sustainability, providing linkages between designs and producers.

6. Legislation – UK Modern Slavery Act 2015

Laws that require companies to be clear on whether or not there is slavery in their supply chain are a step in the right direction.  This applies only to large companies (turnover over £36 million) and there is an opt out possibility.  However if brands have to declare any unethical production practices then they need to be on top of their supply chain, which can only be a good thing.

7. Technology – Making Information more Accessible

The speed and availability of technology now enables us to find out much more about what is happening all over the world.  Abuses can be shared through social media – there’s no place to hide.  Conversely this technology also enables us to trace our supply chains more effectively and to share photos, stories and product information much more widely.  Barcodes and RFID tags already enable us to scan items and link to information about the product using our phones.  There is currently work underway to build a database that can be accessed simply by pattern matching from a camera image – point your phone camera at a shirt and at the click of a button you’ll be able to find out as much as the brand wants you to know (and perhaps even more…).

8. Celebrities as Ethical Consumers

As well as the lovely Emma Watson, there are many other celebrities who have put their face to ethical fashion – including Anne Hathaway, Victoria Beckham and Natalie Portman.  Businessman/celebrity Richard Branson has worked with Vivienne Westwood to create a redesign of the Virgin Atlantic uniforms in recycled plastic!

9. Ethical products are Easier to Identify

There are plenty of accreditations and memberships which make it fairly simple to identify whether a product fits your ethical criteria.  For example if you are after organic products then look for GOTS or Soil Association labels, if Fairtrade is your thing then look for the Fairtrade mark or BAFTS membership.  Even though some companies are accused of ‘greenwashing’ ie. making themselves look more ethical than they really are, in general attaining these accreditations is hard work and costly so most businesses, particularly smaller ones, will be doing it to show their ethical credentials.

10. You Don’t Even Have to do the Leg Work!

Even better – there are organisations such as Ethical Consumer Magazine who will do the research for you!  Simply move sliders on the page to determine your ethical products and they’ll tell you how different brands rate.

So there are TEN great reasons why now is the time to shop ethically – after all, the only way is ethics!

Jo Salter
Founder Where Does It Come From?
wheredoesitcomefrom.co.uk

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Celebrating Women on International Women’s Day

It’s International Women’s Day on 8 March, falling straight after Fairtrade Fortnight.

Women are our Mothers, Friends, Colleagues, Sisters and Daughters.  We could not exist without women. And yet women are one of the most put upon work forces in the world. So, as well as the dates coinciding, I can see lots of synergies between Fairtrade fortnight and international women’s day, especially when looking at the clothing industry.

A Better Way to Shop

There is a bizarre fact when it comes to shopping and, in particular, fast fashion.  Women make up the huge majority – a massive 80% – of the  workforce that creates fast fashion.  These women often endure terrible working conditions, including low pay and long hours.  They often have to live apart from their children and don’t see them for months at a time, and they can be prone to illness and health issues brought on by the kind of work they do.  These women spin, weave, sew and prepare our garments, working long hours in uncomfortable and sometimes downright dangerous conditions.

And do you know who to main customers are for the clothes that they toil over? Yes, you guessed it,  it’s us!   What’s bizarre is that women are the primary clothes shoppers for fast fashion.  So, unpalatable a truth as it is, we women in the developed world with a taste for bargains and fast fashion are condemning our sisters in the less developed world to a pretty tragic existence.

We CAN support Our Sisters!

As I say, we make up half the world and we can make a difference.  We have the power of our purse!  Ok, so its not always easy – we are targeted by brands who want our purse contents and they make it easier to go along with them then to hunt for what we would consciously choose to buy.  Big brands with huge budgets can advertise during our favourite TV programmes, put up bill boards in the streets we walk down, fill our inboxes with special offers and offer us simple buying mechanisms.  But we can choose not to always take the ‘easy’ path.

Bear in mind the funnel effect.  For all the millions of producers and consumers, there are actually just a small band of buyers who are selecting, controlling and fixing prices on a relatively small selection that you actually get to see on the shelves of the major brands. Unless they are clearly telling you otherwise (and no news is NOT good news in this situation), these are produced at the lowest cost possible with producers and makers being paid the minimal amount and brands taking the biggest cut.

However, there are many, many ethically focused businesses who are linking directly with co-operatives, producer groups and artisans. There are businesses run by people who travel directly to these communities, get to know the makers and work with them. These businesses are committed to providing quality products whilst treating with respect the people who make them and ensuring that the makers are not being swept under the carpet with the off cuts. Often these brands have inspiring stories behind them. These brands may be a little harder to discover, but an advantage of the global marketplace we now live in is that you can generally find them online.

Inspiring Brands Supporting Women

Here are a few businesses that we love, who have a strong focus on supporting producers and their communities, especially women.  If you are looking for gifts for Mother’s Day then why not explore some of these?  It would seem to fit the women supporting women theme…..

First of all there’s us …. (Nothing wrong with a bit of self love!)

Where Does It Come From? – our core ethos is traceability. All our garments are produced with close links to the co-operatives and artisan groups that are involved in producing them.  Each of our garments comes with a code on the label so you can get to know the people behind yours. We also have a strong environmental drive too. Our clothing is aimed at those looking for quality, timeless items that they will love to wear. We currently have a range of organic/rainfed cotton tunics for women, organic shirts for men and women, beautiful handwoven scarves and a large range of practical, comfortable children’s clothes.

Here are just a few of the women who have worked to grow cotton, create fabric and tailor clothing, accessories and other textile products for Where Does It Come From?

Another great find is the wonderful Bushbells.  Beautiful Kenyan woven trousers, shorts, towels and beachwear with profits all going into building and running their own schools and providing infrastructure for the education of local children.

If it’s underwear you’re after then take a look at Y.O.U Underwear – organic cotton undies that give back through a ‘buy one give two’ model.

We also love Arya Candles – luxurious, handmade soy candles and the business puts its profits into supporting women from wartorn communities through a charitable programme.

If you are interested in homewares and gifts take a look at Ethiqana and BohoHomes – both working with fair trade artisan groups to make sure that marginalised workers benefit from every sale.

Be the Change

This is shopping and supporting your sisters at the same time.  It’s your choice so don’t let anyone take your purse power away!  Be the change you want to see.

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So we’re approaching Valentines Day!  Traditionally this is the time that we show that special someone how appreciated they are. Of course its much better if we keep our loved ones up to speed on our loved up-ness much more regularly than annually, however at least this serves as a reminder to those who need a nudge.

This day can also be the opportunity to send a little signal to someone that you’d quite like to explore a little love with – a cheeky secret card or note, some choccies.  This could be the day to expose your heart, take a little risk and maybe make a change in your life for the better.

Of course love is much more than romantic love as depicted by St Valentine.  There are many kinds of love – friendship, love for your parents, children, brothers and sisters and other family members.  There’s a different love again that we feel for our pets.  There’s also a wider love – love of people we don’t even know, our wider community, the planet we live on, the trees, countryside, seas and skies we share. There’s no shame in feeling love, like every emotion it is what you choose to do with it that counts.

Is Love All Around Us?

Sometimes we feel that there is less love in the world but it’s not true.  When we are fearful it can hide the love and cause us to behave in unloving ways.  People are often afraid of situations and people they don’t know (this is harnessed by those who want to control others) but when we overcome our fear then the love can show itself.  What did fear ever achieve?

Personally I believe there is LOADS of love out there – people running scout troops, helping in their local community, fundraising for charity, it’s all there.  The film ‘Love Actually’ – if you haven’t seen it you must – opens with with this premise.  If you want to see love then go to the arrivals gate at an airport!

So love is all around us – I hope you agree.  The tricky bit is sharing that love with people you don’t know and places you can’t see.  Unfortunately ‘out of sight, out of mind’ can come into play here.  It’s too easy to switch off to stories of war, famine, abuse and neglect, but if you knew the person, saw the situation then I’m sure you would behave differently.

Close to our hearts at Where Does It Come From? are the people who make our clothes and other products. When you buy from our range of shirts, scarves and childrens’ clothes, we share the story of your new garment with you.  By typing in the code on your label you CAN get to know the people who made your garment, as well as finding out how they did it.  We truly believe that when you know people it makes it easier to spread that love and kindness.  Every time you choose to spend money on an ethically made product then you are spreading love to the people who made it.  Perhaps the love can also come back the other way – wouldn’t you want to have love and happiness woven into the clothes you are going to wear?

What’s Love Got To Do With It?

Most of the garments available in our shops are created using ‘fast fashion’ which basically means quick turnaround production, low quality and low prices.  The knock on effects for the workers in terms of pay, conditions and job security are horrendous, as well as some of the health hazards such as factory collapses and fires.  We work with movements such as Fashion Revolution which was set up after 1,200 workers were killed in Bangladesh in a factory collapse in 2013.  If you would like to know more about the effects of fast fashion then watch ‘True Cost Movie’ which is easily downloadable at Amazon and Netflix.

Its also worth spreading the love to the planet we live on. Creating products considerately, using less harmful chemicals, less water, less carbon and creating less pollution – these things also help ensure the continuation of our planet’s resources.  In a way by doing this we are loving the generations still to come – perhaps our children and grandchildren.

Love is a BIG topic and it’s worth saying that sharing it out doesn’t mean you get to keep less!  So have a wonderful, loving Valentines Day – share the love with those you know but also those you don’t know.  By choosing where you spend your money, you can be spreading your love much more widely than you could ever imagine.

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Do you know where your clothes really come from? by Sheena Grant in the East Anglian Daily Times 16/12/16 – click the link to access.

http://www.eadt.co.uk/ea-life/do_you_know_where_your_clothes_really_come_from_1_4822179

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People like me often talk (bang on) about ethical clothes and the benefits for those people creating them and for our planet too.  That’s all very well but, let’s face it, however altruistic we are feeling, most of us want to know what’s in it for us. Well here are five good reasons why it is better to buy ethical clothes, and not an altruistic one among them!

1. Better for your skin

This one won’t be news to you, but organic fabrics are better for you!  Certified organic cotton has been produced without allergenic, carcinogenic or toxic chemicals so not only are the clothes more likely to be comfortable and non-itchy, but they are also better for you longer term.  Handwoven fabrics generally have a wider weave too so they are naturally breathable helping you remain cooler in summer and warmer in winter.  More natural fabrics such as 100% cotton or linen are also better at stopping us feeling sweaty (urgh).

2. Standing Out from the Crowd

Most, if not all, ethical clothing brands create non mass-produced ranges of clothes.  So if what you buy from them isn’t totally unique (which it sometimes is), you are far less likely to bump into someone at a party wearing exactly the same thing (very embarrassing).  As a parent there are also practical considerations – for example when off to a public place with your darlings you can often find everyone else’s kids also wearing that exact same Elsa dress or dinosaur shirt.  This makes keeping an eye on junior a bit more tricky than usual – not so if they are wearing something a bit less samey.

3. Great Products and Customer Service – fuelled by love!

Generally when you buy from an ethical brand the clothes are fantastic and the customer service amazing.  This is because people who create and run ethical clothing brands are doing it for love, not money.  Setting up a brand, building a trusted supply chain and gaining the important accreditations is an expensive and time-consuming business (trust me on this). Anyone who really wants to do it has a very strong desire to make positive change and therefore will be driven (by love!) to give you the best products and the best service they can.

4. You Save Money in the Long Run

If you buy better quality and choose garments that you love then it stands to reason that you will wear them more and they will last you longer.  This means you won’t need to buy so much (though it doesn’t mean you won’t, I can’t promise you that!).

5. You Can Feel Virtuous/Smug

I don’t need to mention that Fairtrade and ethically sourced produce ensures better working conditions, pay and quality of life for garment workers (mainly women) and their communities.  I’m sure you already know that.  You will also already know that using less toxic chemicals and carbon in garment production and creating less toxic waste will make a huge contribution to the quality of our soil, our water and our air.  So shopping ethically quite rightly makes you feel proud of yourself, and a little smug – rather like a cat with the cream (see photo!). And who doesn’t like knowing they’re doing what’s right?

by Jo Salter

Founder, Where Does It Come From?  www.wheredoesitcomefrom.co.uk

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I’ve just returned from the whirlwind of noise, colour, heat and spice that is India! The trip was primarily for meeting our makers, the people who create the clothing for our brand and to experience first-hand their working conditions and lifestyles. The ethos of Where Does It Come From? (wheredoesitcomefrom.co.uk) is all about creating clothes that tell their stories – enabling customers to find out about the people who made their clothes and how they do it. We believe that having a deeper understanding will make you love and respect your clothes more. The world we live in now, with its transport and technology options, makes it easy for us to have connections with people wherever they are, so why not connect with the people who make all our ‘stuff’ for us? (Or do we simply find it easier if we don’t know?)

Meeting our Makers

We landed in Ahmedabad on Sunday morning and the fun started immediately! We were invited to the wedding of our designer Sanjay’s brother. It was a wonderful experience and such an honour to be there.  I spent the majority of the time oohing and ahhing over the beautiful sari’s and lovely fabrics! We also bumped into one of the tailors, Rajubhai, who has already featured in one of our garment stories (for organic shirts) so it was lovely to meet him in person. We were being hosted by our suppliers Moral Fibre Fabrics, and staying in the home of their founder Shailini Sheth Amin.   It is people who make change happen, through determination and working together. I now consider Shailini as an ally and friend so being invited to her home was a pleasure and privilege.

Monday and Tuesday were spent travelling through the Gujarat countryside (crazy driving!) visiting the co-operatives involved in making our clothes. The co-operatives we were visiting were in Gondal, around 4 hours drive from Ahmedabad where we were based. These co-operatives were set up using the principles set out by Mahatma Gandhi for social inclusion (particularly for women) and the welfare of rural people. They have a ‘whole family’ approach – covering not just employment but also offering services such as banking. We set off very early and reached there midmorning. At the first location there were weavers and spinners working in large, cool studios, driving the machinery by hand or foot. The spinning charkhas are hand driven and can spin up to 12 spools of yarn at a time and the weaving looms are run by foot pedal. I was able to have a go at the spinning which was not too physically intensive – although I think I might develop better arm muscles if I did it for a long time. I also can’t vouch for the quality of my yarn!  We were able to see many of the fabrics created at the co-operative – they even create denim fabric for Levis – which gave us lots of ideas for future designs. Handwoven fabric is naturally more breathable than machine fabrics due to the wider weave and 100% cotton makes the fabric soft and comfortable. The fabric produced this way is known as ‘Khadi’ and was much promoted by Gandhi during the movement for Indian independence. It had fallen out of fashion but is making a big come-back in India and being adopted by designers due to its positive qualities.

A Green Approach

Solar power is increasing as an alternative method of powering the looms and charkhas. A ‘Green Centre’ has been set up using only solar power which harnesses the almost constant sunshine (up to 45 degrees when we were there!). The older ladies who have worked for the co-operative for a long time get the opportunity to work there as a promotion – it is less effort and it produces more yarn (which is a bonus as they are paid based on the amount of yarn they create)

Printing the Designs

During the rest of the week we were back in the city of Ahmedabad and we were able to visit the fabric printing unit (used for our scarves and shirts) and a tailoring unit (which we used for our denim children’s clothes). The printing process is fascinating – the fabric is stretched out over long work benches covered in wax and then flattened out so there are no wrinkles. The designs are added either by printing with carved blocks (such as the prints on ours scarves) or using screens with holes in that create a more uniform pattern.

Fashion Revolution

Last week was also Fashion Revolution Week (www.fashionrevolution.org), the third anniversary of the Rana Plaza garment factory collapse in Bangladesh. This anniversary is a big driver for us as customers to ask our brands who makes our clothes, in order to draw attention to the appalling working conditions endured by many well-hidden garment workers. To support this cause we publicised images of our garment workers so that people can see the faces of those making what they wear.   We also gave a presentation to young students at an Ahmedabad Design college to encourage them to move forward in their careers with sustainability in mind. There was quite a lot of press present at our presentation – a great way to publicise the Fashion Revolution message – and it felt very strange to see myself in the newspaper next morning without being able to understand a word of what was written!  (one was in English – phew!).

In between these excitements we spent time planning future designs and even going out enjoying ourselves – the food was amazing – and we also managed some shopping! We travelled back with heads full of experiences and ideas and suitcases full of fabric……

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Where Does It Come From? Jo Salter Takes Us On A Journey With A Pair Of Jeans

Where_Does_It_Come_From_Issue_42

Juno Magazine commissioned this article and have kindly allowed us to share it with you.  It was published in Issue 42.  Click on the above link to access the article.

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What Contribution to fashion sustainability do clothing take-back Schemes offer?

Panel Session 14 October 2015

Last month I headed to Westminster, London for a panel session exploring the role of take-back schemes in fashion. Organised by hubbub and taking place in the UK Government’s Portcullis house, there was a wide range of attendees and panellists. The event was chaired by Baroness Young of Hornsey and the panellists came from academia, technology, sustainability and retail, including well-known brands such as Marks and Spencer, H&M and the Centre for Sustainable Fashion.

To start the ball rolling, Baroness Young asked the panellists to imagine a line across the room, with one end symbolising the view that take back schemes were a good idea and the other end symbolising the view that they were a bad idea. The panellists were then asked to position themselves along the line in accordance with their personal view. This was a great way to get a clear idea of where each of the panellists stood on the issue which, of course, immediately made us want to hear more from them!

The first panellist to stand up was Professor Kate Fletcher from the Centre for Sustainable Fashion. Kate told us that she is against take-back schemes in general as she believes they don’t encourage the overall buying culture to change. People may feel that by returning their unwanted clothing they are then entitled to buy more and have done their bit for sustainability.

Next to speak was Trewin Restorick from Hubbub. Trewin was keen to push forward the reuse rather than the recycling of used clothing. He talked about Hubbubs ‘From a Mother to Another’ project which had been run with brand JojoMamonBebe where families were encouraged to donate used children’s clothes which were then passed on to needy families via the charity Barnardos. Over 50,000 items were donated which benefited 4000 families. Trewin felt that this kind of initiative was more beneficial than flooding African markets and destroying local economies.

Cecilia Brannsten from H&M was the next to take to the podium. Cecilia told us that 85% of textiles are either oil or cotton based – the cotton being grown to support this taking up land mass which could otherwise be used to grow food. 1 million tonnes of textile waste is thrown away each year. This is why H&M introduced the first global take-back scheme in 2013 which has since collected the equivalent of 60 million tshirts. H&M are also keen to move away from garment production using purely virgin resources and have introduced their first ‘Closed Loop’ collection which uses 20% recycled materials.

Adam Elman of Marks and Spencer (after showing off his coat made of 100% recycled fabric!) talked about M&S’s take-back scheme working with the charity Oxfam – shwopping. M&S pride themselves on making clothes that last but are still well aware that 10,000 items go into landfill every five minutes in the UK. He felt that take-back schemes offer part of the solution, meaning that items can be resold either here or abroad. M&S also have ‘Plan A’ which is their work to ensure responsible supply chains and the use of recycled components.

Cyndi Rhoades of Worn Again spoke next and told us about their work to separate the components of fabrics so that they can be used again as if they were virgin resource. Unfortunately the more recent drive towards quantity up / quality down has meant that it is harder than ever to do this separation. Currently Worn Again are focussing on this but it is not yet cost effective. In the meantime Cyndi believes that the brands could use their large advertising budgets to be the mouthpiece that encourages consumers to shop more thoughtfully.

Finally Dr Andrew Brooks of Kings College presented a more global perspective. He talked about the effects that reselling our unwanted clothing has on economies abroad. His view was that the low pay and dependency caused by the secondary clothing industry damages the livelihoods, economies and the dignity of those communities receiving our old clothes.

Following the panellists’ presentations we all took part in a question and answer session. The key points that emerged to me were:

• – Consumers need to be encouraged to value their clothes more. Cheap deals and BOGOFs do not help with this!
• – Does the government have a role here to legislate within the clothing industry?
• – Brands have a key role to come up with ways of preventing their clothing ending up in landfill
• – Technology such as that pioneered by Worn Again is part of the solution but there is such a glut of textiles, especially low quality ones, that it cannot solve the issue alone.
• – The issues around secondary markets are very complex. Clothing is being reused but at what cost?

At the end of the event we participants were encouraged to place a dot on a chart at the back of the room which represented our view on the question of take backs. It was a tricky thought process, especially following all the discussions we’d had, but I’d have to say that I’m broadly in favour in the short term – anything to stop all the textiles ending up in landfill! However I firmly believe that consumers need to be re-educated, and brands such as ours (Where Does It Come From?) play a key role in this. Let’s just hope that by encouraging consumers to buy less and buy better we will soon see a move towards less waste, less dumping on other economies and more use of recycling technologies.

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A report on the Ethical Consumer Magazine conference ‘Mainstreaming Ethical Consumption’ by Jo Salter of Where Does It Come From? (wheredoesitcomefrom.co.uk)

Ethical Consumer Magazine’s conference took place at the Amnesty International Building in North London on Friday 25 September. With a range of speakers from key ethical businesses and organisations it was going to be an exciting day! On the way I met up with Hayley, an ethical fashion blogger from Howtobe who had interviewed me a few months ago, so we had lots of ethical chat on the way too to get in the mood.

The opening address by Rob Harrison, one of Ethical Consumer’s founders, was straight to the point. He outlined the current ethical market and how it has been effected by recession and austerity – the good news is that ethical consumption has been growing steadily. Interestingly, although the organic market has clearly been effected by the recession of recent years, evidence shows that the market for fairtrade goods has increased 10% per year since 2000 and has been unaffected by the financial climate. In terms of the ethical market Rob said that 60-75% of people say they try to buy ethically sometimes – this offers a huge opportunity for ethical businesses! In conclusion Rob believes that the ethical market will become much more mainstream with companies improving in their marketing and certification playing a huge role. Rob said that products with an ethical story would come to dominate the market which is great news for us at Where Does It Come From? – telling the product’s story is our core ethos!

After Rob’s address there was a panel session entitled ‘Challenges for Ethical Labelling’ with participants from the Fairtrade Foundation (Barbara Crowther), The Phone Co-op (Vivian Woodell), FSC (Carla Tavares) and the ISEAL Alliance (Amy Jackson). Each member of the panel gave a short presentation on their organisation and how they approach labelling. Barbara Crowther talked about the Fairtrade brand and how 93% consumers recognise it and 83% of consumers trust it, a fantastic achievement showing successful brand management. ISEAL is the global membership association for sustainability standards and members include the Fairtrade Foundation, FSC and many others. Amy talked about how a standards label acts as a ‘window’ for consumers to make them aware at a glance of all the work being done by organisations to meet that standard. She believes that these labels therefore have a leadership role moving forward.

After lunch, during which we munched a spread of sandwiches and networked with interesting conference participants, it was time for the first keynote speech. Our speaker was Kate Soper, a philosophy professor, who delivered an academic talk on ethical consumption with some valuable insights. Kate’s view was that ethical consumption needs to consider the whole area of reducing consumption altogether, and that the current ethic of ‘work and spend’ needs to be examined leading to a different philosophy on how we spend our time and work-life balance. Her approach an ‘alternative hedonism’ focuses on better health, more free time and a better way of living. That sounds good to me!

We then broke out into discussion groups. I had opted for the group on Ethical Labelling. This was by far the biggest group which meant that there was less discussion and more presentation! Led by Lucy Findlay from the Social Enterprise Mark and Conall O’Caoimh from Value Added Africa, we looked into how labelling can be used to enhance product offerings. Conall’s work in streaming products directly from African producers into shops such as Marks and Spencer (encouraging them to produce tea bags direct to the shelf rather than sacks of loose tea that needs further production) was a fascinating example of changing the status quo. During our brief discussion at the end of the session one of the attendees representing an Indonesian coffee company expressed the view that most of the labelling systems are focussed on giving benefit to the consumer but not the producers.   I thought this merited further discussion and it is a view expressed by my own suppliers. There is a huge amount of work for producers and suppliers to become Fairtrade, Organic or accredited in some other way. Obviously the consumer is key as it is their demand that leads to product success or failure, but the costs and the work required to become accredited are not insignificant. Perhaps we should look at ways to include the producers more in the definition of accreditation standards so that they can work through other areas that might benefit them more, such as consumer feedback.

We then headed back into the auditorium for the second keynote speech which was by Hilary Jones of Lush Cosmetics and was entitled ‘What it means to be a campaigning business’. Lush prides itself on its political activism and its campaigning for animal and human rights. Hilary did state that she felt that Lush have a better insight into the views of the people than politicians do, as Lush’s customers tend to discuss their political opinions in the shop. Personally I’m not convinced by this as it is unlikely that Lush attract an even cross section of society. However Lush have certainly gained a strong high street presence with their products and are certainly amongst the most mainstream of ethical businesses. The balance between campaigning and running a business is a tricky one though – ethics are key but there is a risk of alienating part of your customer base if you’re not careful.

The final session of the conference was a panel entitled ‘Ethics at Scale’. For me this was the highlight of the event, with speakers from Divine Chocolate (Charlotte Borger), Suma Wholefoods (Bob Cannell), Triodos bank (Huw Davies), Soil Association (Clare McDermott) and Fairphone (Tessa Wernink). Charlotte Borger won us over with her free chocolate and excellent presentation. I completely resonated with Divine’s goal to produce a ‘premium product with an ethical USP’ and to grow the customer base from grassroots supporters into the huge realm of chocolate lovers. As a brand co-owned by the cocoa farmers themselves (many of whom didn’t know their cocoa was used in chocolate bars until Divine came on the scene) Divine are an inspiring example of how an ethical brand can position itself to grow in the mainstream market. Fairphone was also a very interesting presentation. As a Fairphone user myself I was very interested to hear how the crowdfunding model had worked and how the brand would maintain its ethics without becoming unaffordable. By creating a long lasting product Fairphone are limiting their future customer base. This is key to ethical consumption but limiting as a business model! Tessa from Fairphone also wins my ‘favourite slide’ award with this one…..

After the event we all headed off for some networking, lubricated by delicious ‘vintage roots’ wine and organic beer. I chatted with an interesting range of people during the event and exchanged contact details so hopefully we can all learn from each other as we go forward in our journey to mainstream ethical consumption! Thanks to the Ethical Consumer Magazine for a successful event – I am now a subscriber!

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Blogger Mummy in the City kindly reviewed our Freya Pinafore dress.  You can read her review by clicking on the link below.

http://www.mummyinthecity.com/review-where-does-it-come-from-for-practical-and-traceable-childrens-clothes/

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A blog by Jo Salter, Founder of Where Does It Come From? for The Organisation for Responsible Businesses (ORB) at www.orbuk.org.uk

Here we are in the New Year (half way through January already!).  So how are those New Year’s resolutions coming along?  Many people concentrate on what they should be giving up for the New Year – alcohol, chocolate or biscuits.  A more positive approach might be to consider what changes we can take on board, such as acting more responsibly and inspiring others to do so too.  This may sound a bit sanctimonious and preachy but if you are reading this blog then you are probably on the same wavelength.  After all it has been written for ORB – The Organisation for Responsible Businesses!

So what is Responsibility?

Responsibility is a big word – not just because it has a lot of letters, but also because it covers a number of areas.  Checking out dictionary definitions brings up words such as ‘obligation’ and ‘duty’ which sound onerous, but also ‘safekeeping’ and ‘guardianship’.  Acting responsibly is something that we are told to do all our lives – but what are we responsible for?  Well there are our responsibilities to our families, workmates/bosses and to uphold the laws we are bound by, but what about bigger responsibilities?  I believe that we are responsible for the world we live in – for making every person’s life be as good as it can be and for passing on the world in at least as good, if not better, state than when we started living in it.  We all touch a lot of lives and influence the state of our planet – from what we eat, how we travel and the clothes we wear.  We are responsible for the choices we make.

Where did ‘Where Does It Come From?’ Come From?

It was this, the touching of many lives, which led to the creation of Where Does It Come From? (http://www.wheredoesitcomefrom.co.uk) – an ethical clothing business that gives every garment a code so that the customer can find out about exactly how their garment was made and who was involved in making it (see our kid’s jeans, left).  I won’t bang on about the negative issues of fast fashion and the clothing industry – we all know about those, but having a responsibility towards those people who touched our clothes before we did was a key consideration.  The processes and materials and their impact on our world was also high on the list.  But there was also a responsibility to the customers and to the children – They SHOULD be told what goes on to make their clothes.  It is much easier to bow out of a responsibility if you don’t know you have it.  Most people want to do the right thing and don’t want people to suffer to make their clothes (remember the reaction to the Rana Plaza factory disaster in 2013?) but it is often easier to remain in the dark.

How are we being Responsible?

It took a fair while to set up Where Does It Come From? after the initial concept landed.  I won’t go on about it here but if you are interested please see past blogs at www.wheredoesitcomefrom.co.uk/blog.  We have found a great partner in http://moralfibre-fabrics.com/ and, through them, we have access to skilled co-operative workers.  Most of the workers live rurally in Gujarat, India and work at home or in their villages to produce the fabrics we use.  Their skills are traditional – passed down from generation to generation – and by buying from them we help to ensure that they can continue to live and work in the way they choose.  Fairtrade is a key way to ensure worker’s livelihoods and to re-assure customers that we take our responsibilities to heart.  We are Fairtrade accredited as a business and currently in the process of working through our whole supply chain to ensure we can use the Fairtrade mark on all our products as soon as possible.

All our garments are made from fabrics that have been made by hand and dyed by hand using eco-dyes (see hand dyeing photo).  These processes mean that there is a very low-carbon impact, low water wastage and less harmful chemicals put out into the environment.  We plan to move to certified organic cotton fabric creation as soon as we can.  All our packaging and stationary is recycled.

To fulfil our responsibilities to our customers we have a code on the label of each garment which links the customer with pages of information about where the cotton was grown, how it was turned into fabric, and interviews with some of the people involved.  Here you can link to people’s lives – such as finding out that Daksha (right) who is 21, passes most of her wages on to her family but keeps some pocket money which she uses to buy make up or top up her mobile phone!  By building such linkages we hope that people, especially children, will engage with those out of ‘sight’ and not learn to put them ‘out of mind’.  Of course we have other responsibilities to our customer too – to provide them with a quality product that offers good value for money (see photo of our leaf print scarf).  We take those responsibilities just as seriously and so far (fingers crossed!) we seem to have happy customers!

So back to New Year’s resolutions – can we add responsibility to the list?  The growth of ethical shopping and Fairtrade has been phenomenal, and with sites such as http://www.ethicalsuperstore.com where you can buy pretty much anything, and directories such as http://www.mygreendirectory.co.uk and http://www.theresponsiblebusinessdirectory.co.uk/ listing the more ethical companies, it is much easier to make the choice to shop more responsibly.  To make other life choices more responsible, such as responsible travel and responsible food sourcing, I will leave for someone else to tackle J

For more information please visit our website at www.wheredoesitcomefrom.co.uk, like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/wheredoesitcome, follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/WhereDoesItCome or on Instagram at www.instagram.com/where_does_it_come.  Or just send us an email to jo@wheredoesitcomefrom.co.uk

This blog can also be found on the ORB website at http://orbuk.org.uk/blog/2015/01/adding-responsibility-to-the-shopping-list/

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By Jo Salter, Founder of Where Does It Come From? (www.wheredoesitcomefrom.co.uk) created for ‘Green Aspirations’ (www.green-aspirations.co.uk)

At Where Does It Come From? we definitely have Green Aspirations!  We have other aspirations too, all around offering ethical, traceable products made without detriment to people or planet and where the customer can actually find out how and where their product was made and who was involved in making it.

Why Offer Ethical Products?

Why not just buy clothes that are available on the high street? Well, it would be unfair to say that all clothing retailers and manufacturers are the same because some ARE trying to improve the ethical issues in their supply chain.  However, in general, brands have worked tirelessly to fulfil the demand for Fast Fashion which is fuelled by the fashion industry. High street fashion prices have fallen by 10% between 2003 and 2007 and large fashion outlets are proud to tell us that they can turn around a design from catwalk to delivery in 4 weeks.  It’s easy to buy, very cheap and when it is out of date you can chuck it in the bin.  An article in ecobusiness.com published last week presents a possible future where buying clothes brand new is unattainable for most of us in ten years’ time, due to a scarcity of resourcesthat have been decimated by Fast Fashion!

Setting up business with a transparent supply chain….

It has taken two years from concept to launch – primarily due to the challenges in finding partners to work with who could really be sure of their product supply chain.  We wanted complete clarity right from the cotton growing in the field through the spinning/dyeing/weaving process and into the garment production.

After much research, emailing, skyping and talking to people all over the world, and one promising partnership that didn’t work out, we found our first partner in Moral Fibre Fabrics (www.moralfibre-fabrics.com).  Through Moral Fibre we are able to access the skills and experience of the Co-operative workers of Udyog Bharti.  Many of these families have been working in fabric creation for generations and live simply, in rural environments.   Having a sustained income makes a big difference to them.   We have been able to create a channel – for us to get access to their lovely fabrics and for them to find a market.  The skills they use, hand spinning, hand weaving and hand dying, are all environment friendly and have a very low carbon (hand or solar powered looms!) and water usage.  Azo-free dyes are used so that harmful chemicals are avoided. Together we created our first range of traceable products – children’s clothes – which we launched in June 2014 (www.wheredoesitcomefrom.co.uk/shop).

Do People Actually Want Ethical Products?

The culture is changing.   Finding out that cotton is the dirtiest crop in the world – cotton crops cover 2.5% of the worlds cultivated land but use 16% of the world’s pesticides – is a stark discovery.  On top of that there’s the wastage caused by Fast Fashion – two million tonnes of clothes were chucked out last year in the UK and while some people donate to charity most of it ends up in the bin and from there to landfill sites.  Even worse, customers are becoming aware of the price being paid for them to have cheap clothes – last year’s Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh killed 1129 people and only last week workers were injured in Cambodia when a garment factory floor collapsed.  Most people, when they find out these facts, don’t want to buy products that contribute to this process.

The change is also happening because of the increase in global information.  With email, the Internet, Facebook, Skype, Twitter etc. we can communicate with people all over the world.  The scenes from the Rana Plaza factory collapse were beamed live into our living room.  Difficult to ignore.  But this global village we now live in gives huge opportunities – we can embrace the supply chain and all the people in it!

The Global Village

As part of our process we meet and chat to the people involved in making our clothes.  They are happy to talk to us and that their input into the garments is no longer anonymous.   When you buy from Where Does It Come From? you will find that your garment has a code.  Entering that code into our website at www.wheredoesitcomefrom.co.uk will unlock the history of your garment and you can ‘meet’ some of the people involved in making it.  Here is an example:

Here is Daksha, she is 21 and learned to spin at 6 years old. Her wages go into her family income but “I take out my pocket money from my salary and use it for my cell phone recharges, I buy myself some cosmetics!”  Strong parallels to 21 year olds I know!

A different story comes from Saras.  She is 60 and says “I enjoy this work because I can spin whenever I have time. I usually spin in the night as I have to look after my family in the day. I am from the Darbar community and women are not allowed to work outside their homes, so spinning has really helped me.”  Not being allowed to work outside the home is a cultural difference that it may be hard to relate to but it is a key insight into how Saras lives.

I don’t know about you, but finding out how these people live makes me feel closer to them.  Clothes are pretty personal – they touch our skin, they send out messages about who we are, they provide us warmth and comfort.  Our clothes are the links between the garment workers of the world and ourselves.

Our Green Aspirations …

So our green aspirations are to bring products to our customers that are not only gorgeous, unique and high quality but also that are kind to people and the environment.  We also aspire to help people build a closer relationship with their clothes – a real understanding of how each garment was created and a link to the people who touched them before you did.

Please visit www.wheredoesitcomefrom.co.uk to see our first products, a range of children’s clothes.  Ladies scarves will be on sale in November 2014 and two new clothing ranges are currently being designed for launch in 2015.  We are currently working towards Fairtrade accreditation and our next ranges of clothes will be certified Organic.

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Terry Redhead from ‘Lets Talk’ Magazine published a great article about the business (and me – at least I think that paragon is me…..).  We met for a lovely cup of tea and chat and I showed him some of the Where Does It Come From? collection.  Just click on the link below to read the article.

Jo clothes LT

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Fantastic News!

The same ethical fabrics used in the Where Does It Come From? collection will now be gracing the stars of Hollywood!  Warner Bros have selected MoralFibre Fabrics, our partner in Gujarat, to supply the fabrics for their latest movie ‘Peter Pan’ starring Hugh Jackman!  Khadi, a handspun handwoven fabric famously promoted by Ghandi, will be one of the fabrics used.

So if you want to dress your children like Hollywood stars then head to our SHOP!  Scarves made from Khadi will be on sale soon – some with a Christmas theme – and these will make ideal presents for the festive season.

MoralFibre impressed the costume designers of Warner Bros with the quality and texture of their fabrics, which are handmade by artisans working in ethically run co-operatives.  Many of those making the fabrics live rurally and work from home where spinning and weaving equipment are part of their household furniture, just like their parents and grandparents before them.  The fabrics are environment friendly as well as the production process is powered by people not carbon and all dyes used are without harmful chemicals.  It is wonderful to hear about the Hollywood Studios supporting such an enterprise!

If you want to know more about MoralFibre’s Hollywood success, here is an artical in the Indian publication FirstBiz.

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